The fresher they are the longer time
they will require for boiling. If you wish them quite soft, put
them into a sauce-pan of water that is boiling hard at the moment,
and let them remain in it five minutes. The longer they boil the
harder they will be. In ten minutes' fast boiling they will be
hard enough for salad.
If you use one of the tin egg-boilers that are placed on the
table, see that the water is boiling hard at the time you put in
the eggs. When they have been in about four or five minutes, take
them out, pour off the water, and replace it by some more that is
boiling hard; as, from the coldness of the eggs having chilled the
first water, they will not otherwise be done enough. The boiler
may then be placed on the table, (keeping the lid closed,) and in
a few minutes more they will be sufficiently cooked to be
wholesome.